She Called Me Woman: Nigeria’s Queer Women Speak, a ground-breaking collection of 25 first-hand narratives from a cross section of queer Nigerian Women will be out on April 24, 2018. The book edited by Azeenarh Mohammed, Chitra Nagarajan, and Rafeeat Aliyu is published by Cassava Republic Press.
The new book covers the experience of queer women from across Nigeria, with narrators coming from Maiduguri, Zamfara, Imo, Oyo, Abuja, Plateau, Lagos, Ondo and more. It restores balance in the discussion on sexuality and gender, which can unfairly favour queer men. It brings into mainstream consciousness the existence and issues of queer women in Nigerian society, ensuring that their stories are told and their voices heard.
These narratives give the reader access to the narrators’ innermost thoughts and explore what it means to be a queer woman within Nigeria’s often deeply conservative communities. According to editor Refeeat Aliyu, “This book is important to me because as someone who looks for clues on women’s sexuality in Nigeria’s history, I am often frustrated by the way scholars have painted a heteronormative picture. When we become history, no one will be able to say, “there’s no proof of homosexuality in Nigeria” because of the existence of this book and others like it.”
You will be able to buy the book from April 24, 2018 from Cassava Republic.
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